For the time being, assuming Orange County is in the red tier, it will reopen at 15% capacity. However, if, by the time the park reopens, Anaheim is in the orange tier, it will be 25% capacity. Furthermore, out-of-towners will be barred from entry for the time being, while live entertainment will also gone.
While it may be a while before I go back again (which I can theoretically do as a California native myself), it bears repeating: Disneyland has been missed! Welcome back!
Recently, I began to look at guest celebrities on The Muppet Show who also did some things for Disney as well. Please note, however, I do not intend to do every single guest celebrity, only those whose Disney roles are in any way significant. And now I will continue on with this list...
Up next in the parade of guest celebrities is Sandy Duncan:
Duncan has done a few Disney performances, including appearing as Katie Dooley in The Million Dollar Duck...
...Dr. Liz Bartlett in The Cat From Outer Space...
...and the voice of Vixey in The Fox and the Hound:
And she also played Snow White in Christmas in Disneyland:
After that came Ben Vereen:
His main Disney role (as far as I know) was hosting the Walt Disney World Christmas Parade special in 1985 with Joan Lunden:
Then came Phyllis Diller:
Diller's most significant Disney role is the voice of the Queen Ant in A Bug's Life...
...but she also appeared on a Halloween-themed episode of The Mouse Factory:
After that came Vincent Price:
Price does the voice of Ratigan in The Great Mouse Detective...
...and the narrator for the Tim Burton short Vincent:
Also, in Disneyland Paris' Phantom Manor (their equivalent of the Haunted Mansion), Price provides the eponymous Phantom's maniacal laughter:
And that concludes the first season of The Muppet Show.
COVID cases have been dropping as of late in California.
According to various news sources, in keeping with California's drop in cases, coupled with its rise in vaccinations, the state's reopening guidelines have been modified, which means that parks in California, including Disneyland, can reopen as early April 1, albeit at a very limited capacity, at 15%.
My take on this, however, is that having been disappointed when its alleged July reopening date from last year did not pan out, I have to express my doubts. It also doesn't help that the reopening date is April 1, which is of course is April Fool's Day.
I don't usually like to say it, but I really hope I am mistaken in what I say and things do in fact pan out.
On February 19, 2021, the classic Muppet Show started streaming on Disney+ for the first time.
In honor of that, its 45 anniversary, I thought I would talk about some of the guest celebrities who appeared on the show who also did Disney at some point in their lives. This is not going to be a full list, but broken down by seasons. It should also be noted that even if they only did just one thing for Disney, it will still be acceptable.
Season One Neither Connie Stevens nor Juliet Prowse, the first two guest celebrities on the show, have done anything for Disney, so up first we have Joel Grey:
As far as I know, Grey has done only one Disney role, that of Beppo Brown, the father of Jenny and Django Brown in one episode of Phineas and Ferb:
Next up, we have Ruth Buzzi:
Buzzi's Disney career is decidedly more extensive. Among other things, she has done the singing voice of Frou-Frou the horse in The Aristocats (her speaking voice was done by Nancy Kulp)...
...Kanga of Winnie the Pooh fame in an early computer software game called "Winnie the Pooh in the Hundred Acre Wood"...
...and Mrs. Sweeney, a villain in one episode of Chip 'n' Dale Rescue Rangers:
After that, we have Rita Moreno:
Among other things, Moreno appeared in a few episodes of Zorro as a minor character named Chulita...
...and, more recently, as Queen Camila on Elena of Avalor:
After that, we have Florence Henderson (I didn't even know she did Disney until I looked it up on the Disney Wiki site):
She voiced several incidental characters in newer shows, including Demeter in the Hercules animated series...
...Grand Mum in Sofia the First...
...Aunt Ginny in an episode of Handy Manny...
...and Irma in an episode of KC Undercover:
Then came Harvey Korman:
Among other things, he portrayed Captain Blythe in Herbie Goes Bananas:
Then came Peter Ustinov:
Ustinov has done a few significant roles for Disney, including the title character in Blackbeard's Ghost...
...Prince John in Robin Hood...
...King Richard, also in Robin Hood...
...and Dr. Snodgrass in Treasure of Matecumbe:
That's all for now. I will get to more later, but I have some big plans for today. Stay tuned.
My critique of Disney shorts on the Disney+ streaming service continues...
In a previous article, I had hinted that I might post a list of all the black-and-white Mickey Mouse cartoons to see which ones could be shown on Disney+. As it stands now, only two such shorts are available on the streaming service: Steamboat Willie (for obvious reasons) and 1933's Ye Olden Days. In any case, Mickey's early career is worth taking a look at.
The problem, however, is that many of them have questionable content, from racial or ethnic stereotypes and antisocial behavior (such as smoking or drinking) to violence and just plain crude behavior, which came under the heading of "barnyard humor".
One way to separate things out is to look at the series of black-and-white Mickey cartoons which, when shown on the Disney Treasures line of DVDs, often were preceded by introductions by the host, film historian Leonard Maltin, who explained that the cartoons were a product of their time and would be unacceptable today. On the first black-and-white Mickey set, released in 2002, the cartoons simply had intros in front of them, but the second set, released in 2004, actually separated out such questionable cartoons from everything else (and they didn't even do a good job there, as The Mad Dog and Trader Mickey are not separated out and are part of the regular lineup). Presented below are all the shorts which were given specific intros on both sets (along with a handful that don't), and as such, would not be seen on Disney+:
The Gallopin' Gaucho (1928; Mickey smoking and drinking)
The Barnyard Battle (1929; the cats all wear German helmets, violence)
The Haunted House (1929; Mickey cries "Mammy!" at one point)
Pioneer Days (1930; racial stereotypes)
The Moose Hunt (1931; gun violence, alleged animal abuse)
The Delivery Boy (1931; a Yiddish-dancing turtle, suggestive behavior at the end)
Mickey Steps Out (1931; blackface gags at the end)
The Grocery Boy (1932; a Napoleon statue is blackfaced after crashing into some fireplace ash)
The Mad Dog (1932; racial stereotypes, gun violence)
Mickey In Arabia (1932; racial stereotypes)
Trader Mickey (1932; racial stereotypes)
The Whoopee Party (1932; a blackface gag)
The Klondike Kid (1932; drinking, gun violence)
Mickey's Good Deed (1932; a "black" toy, animal abuse)
Shanghaied (1934; Pete becomes blackfaced after crashing into a stove's ashes)
Gulliver Mickey (1934; a Lilliputian is blackfaced from getting hit with ink from Mickey's fountain pen)
The Dognapper (1934; animal abuse, gunplay)
Two-Gun Mickey (1934; smoking, gun violence)
Mickey's Man Friday (1935; racial stereotypes)
Those are pretty much all the cartoons that would probably not be included on the list because of questionable content. All those not on the list, as far as I know, should be fairly acceptable for the streaming service, so I really would like Disney to include those someday. A guy can dream, can he not?
Evidently, given other things going on in my life, I didn't get the memo until I found out about this last week: a new Mickey Mouse cartoon series (or rather, a continuation of the 2010s series) to air on Disney+ on November 18, Mickey and Minnie's birthday, known as The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse:
Out of curiosity, after Russi Taylor's passing last year, I asked around who would voice Minnie now. While they didn't know for sure, they thought that it would be the one who voices her now on Mickey Mouse's Mixed-Up Adventures: Kaitlyn Robrock, who took over as the voice on July 17:
You can hear a snippet of Robrock's dialogue as Minnie in the link to this Tweet here.
In all honesty, I think Robrock's Minnie sounds rather like Bernadette from The Big Bang Theory (maybe it's just the way she says "Sheldon doesn't have a spot" that does it for me (or maybe it's just that I love that clip so much)):
It's not known at this point yet, but chances are, Robrock is probably going to play Minnie in the new Mickey Mouse cartoon series coming up.
From what little I know about Robrock, it is revealed that she was born on December 30, 1983, so she's about a year younger than Bret Iwan, the current voice of Mickey. It's nice to know that Mickey and Minnie are now once again voiced by people who are relatively close to each other in age, just as Wayne Allwine and Russi Taylor were (almost) close in age (although chances are, Mickey will be voiced again by Chris Diamantopoulos in this new series, as it's a continuation of the 2010s series).
Personally, I have always thought there was something off-putting about Taylor continuing to voice Minnie while Mickey was voiced by someone much, much younger, so young that Taylor could easily have been Iwan's (or Diamantopoulos') mother in another life!
Anyway, I hope Kaitlyn Robrock continues to voice Minnie for a while to come.
In the first part of my wish list for Disney cartoon shorts on Disney+, I had listed out all the rest of the cartoons shown on Disney+ in Japan, which included pretty much all of the shorts in the "Have a Laugh" lineup (except for the Goofy short Tennis Racquet, which I would also like to see).
The second part involves various other parts of the Disney shorts series that should be included. For instance, it would be nice to get various other black-and-white Mickey cartoons, of which there are only two available: Steamboat Willie (which is there for obvious reasons) and 1933's Ye Olden Days. The main problem with these cartoons is content seen as questionable today, such as ethnic/racial stereotypes, antisocial behaviors like smoking or chewing tobacco, or just plain crude behavior, which came under the heading of "barnyard humor". According to Leonard Maltin, who hosted the Walt Disney Treasures line, which featured these cartoons, they were a product of their times; they were acceptable in the 1930s, but not today.
Maybe a good idea would be to avoid those with special intros by Maltin on the DVDs and focus on those that don't have them, while also taking out a few that did get listed with "regular" shorts (The Mad Dog and Trader Mickey have racial stereotypes, but they were inexplicably included with "regular" shorts). The list is so long, however, that it may warrant its own page here, of what's acceptable and not acceptable. At the very least, it would be nice to get 1930's The Chain Gang and 1932's Mickey's Revue, the respective debuts of Pluto and Goofy. Speaking of...
The second criterion involves non-sports-themed Goofy cartoons. As it stands now, the only such cartoon is 1946's A Knight For a Day. Several of Goofy's roles as an everyman in the 1950s would be nice, for starters, including Fathers Are People (with a tobacco warning at the start), Man's Best Friend, Two Weeks Vacation, Father's Day Off, Father's Weekend, How To Dance, and How To Sleep. And then there are the "miscellaneous" shorts that don't fall into the "sports" or "everyman" shorts. For instance, it would be nice to include Goofy's premiere solo short, Goofy and Wilbur, as well as other shorts like Goofy's Glider, Baggage Buster, The Big Wash, Lion Down, and Home Made Home. Also, it would be nice to get in some cartoons with Goofy paired with Donald. I had previously mentioned Polar Trappers, one of the cartoons available in Japan, but not the U.S., but there should be others like Billposters and No Sail.
The third criterion is pre-1947 Pluto cartoons, back when the dog's theme went like this:
(Incidentally, it would be nice if they actually used the original title cards for all of these cartoons that actually had the correct years on them.)
And yes, The Legend of Coyote Rock would be one of the several cartoons that I would like to see.
As it stands now, most of Pluto's pre-1947 appearances are in other cartoons, mainly those with Mickey and/or Donald. In addition to Coyote Rock, it would also be nice to include Pluto's first solo appearance in Pluto's Quin-Puplets, as well as others like Bone Trouble, Pluto's Playmate, The Sleepwalker, Pluto At the Zoo, Springtime For Pluto, Canine Casanova, In Dutch, and Pluto's Housewarming, all of which feature that pre-1947 theme in the video above.
Finally, it would be good to get some other shorts in here as well. For example, a smattering of Silly Symphonies is shown, but not one of my most favorites, Music Land. In addition, some more "special" cartoons would be nice as well. Disney+ does have Ferdinand the Bull and Lambert the Sheepish Lion, but it would be nice to get some more in there, such as Ben and Me (which is kind of available already as part of "The Liberty Story", an episode of the Disneyland show, in black and white) and the cult classic, Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom. And of course, more Donald cartoons like Donald and Pluto, Modern Inventions (these two, I believe, were in the beta version of Disney+ in the Netherlands), The Eyes Have It, and Donald's Double Trouble.
The main challenge with these cartoons, again, is questionable content, so, in the case of Goofy, cartoons like Californy'er Bust (Indians), African Diary (gunplay and African stereotypes), and No Smoking (Goofy struggling to quit smoking) would probably not make the cut, nor would the war shorts, such as Pluto's The Army Mascot and Private Pluto and Goofy's How To Be a Sailor (which contains Japanese stereotypes). They would probably too big for the obligatory "outdated cultural standards" disclaimer. The cartoons I had mentioned have few, if any, such questionable content in there.
But anyway, that's my take on this. What are your thoughts? Maybe at a later time, I will post the whole list of black-and-white Mickey cartoons to see which ones can or cannot be shown on Disney+.
